It depends on what style of switch stack those decagons have. Gottlieb was messing around with the style of stack, where the order of the switches is different than the style they settled into using later. Sounds like this one might be of the odd variety.

I would expect the 9th position to be closed when the reel is on 9, the runout to be closed at 1-9, and the reset to be closed at 0, but as I recall, there's a variety where the reset switch opens at zero instead.

So probably best to post a picture of the type of switch stack you have, so as to not guess about it.

Are they the switch blades that look like frog's heads?

Is the wire form slipped in between them?

(yeah, pictures would be an immense help)

Here's the later style.

Gtb_Decagon_1_8_pos_(resized).jpg

Gtb_Decagon_9th_pos_(resized).jpg

Gtb_Decagon_Zero_pos_(resized).jpg

OK, so in the case of those particular switches, the zero switch is on the bottom, the runout is in the middle, and the 9th is on the top.

King Rock may have a different order (from your description), so the open/close states may not match these.

yes, follow Chris' link and use the "1st Generation" pictures as a reference. Those switch stacks are different than the ones I posted (which were from a later game).

I believe the "inside" switch is the one closest to the frame though.

The 10K reels won't have a "9th position" switch since there's no next reel to carryover. So the middle switch would be absent on those, and the remaining two switches are still the same ones as on the other reels.

"Inside" switch is closest to the bracket.

Sometimes the return springs that pull back and step the reel are weakened from use over the years. Try swapping springs with the ones on the 10K reels for the reels having more trouble getting past 9.

And yes, don't remove the washers.